Regulatory

The Indian telecom watchdog on Thursday floated a consultation paper in an effort to explore transparent models that can achieve benefits of free data. The paper asks whether free data can be provided to users without violating its previous order that banned discriminatory pricing for some content and websites.

All mobile handsets sold in India from January 2017 will have to feature a panic button that will allow women in distress to seek help. In addition, from January 2018, all mobile phones must have an inbuilt GPS to identify the handset user’s location, according to a notification of the Department of Telecommunications.

Hoping to reduce call drop menace substantially, the Telecom Ministry is likely to accept the suggestions of the Telecom Commission (TC) in total, especially the one to make winning bidders of spectrum auction pay upfront 50 per cent of final bid amount for higher bands of spectrum, a senior official in the Telecom Ministry told […]

No spectrum will be given for free, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, even as operators demand a cut in the proposed auction price for airwaves. Speaking to ET, he also highlighted how the public sector is combining infrastructure and leveraging the expertise of BSNL and the postal department for a competitive battle with private […]

Telecom operators should not be asked to surrender excess spectrum if the maximum holding limit in a circle gets changed after allocation of the airwaves, telecom regulator Trai today suggested to the government.

Posted in Industry, Regulatory | Comments Off on Don’t take back spectrum from telcos if cap changes: Trai

The government has allowed sharing of active telecom infrastructure like antenna, feeder cable and transmission systems, a move that will lower costs for telecom operators and lead to faster rollout of networks. Earlier, the telecom companies were allowed to share only passive infrastructure such as towers.

Relief may be on its way for the nagging call drops with telecom regulator Trai seeking suggestions for compensating customers for deficient services on mobile phones. Not charging for dropped calls or providing free calling minutes were suggestions made by regulator in a consultation paper for which it is seeking comments.

Mobile subscribers will be able to activate or deactivate internet service on their mobile phone by calling or sending an SMS to a new toll free number 1925 from next month onwards. The new directive from telecom regulator TRAI follows a large number of complaints from customers that mobile operators were keeping the process of […]

The telecom department panel that was set up to look into the Net neutrality issue has submitted its report to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and the report will be made public in a few days. “Yes, they (the panel) have submitted the report to me. In few days time, the report will be put […]